The Rise of the Shame Society: America’s Change from a Guilt Culture into a Shame Culture

Marcel H. Van Herpen

doi:10.5771/9781666914696

Summary

American society is often characterized as a “guilt culture,” as opposed to non-Western “shame cultures.” But is this distinction still valid today? Through examples like shaming penalties in criminal law, “fat shaming,” and cyberbullying on the social media, The Rise of the Shame Society: America’s Change from a Guilt Culture into a Shame Culture shows how shame is increasingly invading our lives, leading to feelings of humiliation and depression. Marcel Van Herpen identifies three causes of this phenomenon: new childrearing methods, the advent of the social media, and a transformation of Western individualism. He weighs the arguments for and against a shame society and concludes that a guilt-centered approach remains preferable. Although shame increasingly permeates everyday life, the author argues that its rise is not a fatality. He emphasizes that shame is a dynamic phenomenon and that one can observe trends which lead to an increase of shame, as well as to its decrease. Examples of the latter are a growing sensitivity to the pain caused by anti-Black racism, the decrease of anti-LGBTQIA+ prejudices, and efforts to end the stigmatization of people with disabilities. Along with exploring its increase, The Rise of the Shame Society demonstrates that there are ways to overcome shame.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2022
Copyright year: 2022
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-2020-8
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-1469-6
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 216
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. Introduction No access
4. Prologue: Guilt versus Shame No access
What Is Shame and What Is Guilt and Which of the Two Is “Better”? No access Pages 1 - 14
New Shaming Practices No access Pages 15 - 28
1. The Changing Character of Individualism No access
2. Economic Individualism No access
3. The “Other-Directed Person” No access
4. Joyless Consumption No access
5. Expressive Individualism and Its Holy Grail No access
1. How Expressive Individualism Morphed into Narcissism No access
2. The Narcissist’s Pursuit of the Perfect Body No access
3. Narcissism Goes Global No access
4. The Happiness Revolution No access
1. De-Shaming Processes I No access
2. De-Shaming Processes II No access
3. The Emergence of New Shame I No access
4. The Emergence of New Shame II No access
5. Conclusion No access
Bibliography No access Pages 195 - 206
Index No access Pages 207 - 214
About the Author No access Pages 215 - 216